As if you cannot tell from the headline, we are about to discuss the season finale of season two of The Mandalorian. Stop reading NOW if you haven’t yet seen it, and do not want to be spoiled by what happens.
Unlike most (if not all) of the existing episodes of the Disney+ show The Mandalorian, “Chapter 16: The Rescue,” didn’t conclude with gorgeous concept art playing over the end credits. Instead, the laundry list of genius creators who work tirelessly on this show played out, and a surprise was waiting at the end. A bonus scene… and a possible HUGE new direction for the show when it returns in December 2021.
If you are reading this, you saw it. Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) are back on Tatooine and in the facility that was once Jabba the Hutt’s palace. They quickly dispense of Bib Fortuna and his goons, and Boba Fett takes his place on Jabba’s throne.
The end credits then read “The Book of Boba Fett, Coming December 2021.”
Cool! We’re getting another spinoff from The Mandalorian, to join the already revealed Ahsoka Tano show built around Rosario Dawson’s live-action interpretation of the beloved character! And it’s coming in December 2021, which is exactly when Kathleen Kennedy mentioned that the next season of The Mandalorian would be arriving on Disney+ in 2021. That’s weird. Would they compete against each other?
Or is this Boba Fett show taking the place of more adventures with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal)?
Personally, I think this is the end for Djarin, and I believe that with his mission concluded, The Mandalorian Season 3 simply shifts to be The Book of Boba Fett, with a completely new direction that can still use many of the characters who have been introduced throughout the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. For certain, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) would be an integral character to the new season. Mando, himself, could easily drop by for episodes, without having to carry an entire season. You have to imagine that because Boba Fett is back on Tatooine, we’d see the return of folks like Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) and Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) for crucial story points.
What’s fascinating about this is that in two short years, thanks to the elongated development of longer-form serialized television, Lucasfilm suddenly has multiple exciting story threads on which it can pull to see where audiences want to go. Diego Luna is busy filming Andor, based around his Rogue One character, and we mentioned Rosario Dawson getting ready to lead Ahsoka. The studio also confirmed The Rangers of the New Republic, and we learned that Obi-Wan Kenobi is bringing back Hayden Christensen.
But the best way to handle these would be to conclude the stories when they reach their natural finish. By delivering Grogu to a Jedi, Din (Pedro Pascal) concluded his journey. It’s not just OK that The Mandalorian switches its gears to Boba Fett for the next chapters, it’s preferred. We shall see if that’s how Lucasfilm and Disney+ handle it.
